Gatineau men blackmailed in cybersex scam

A warning from Gatineau police: don’t get naked with a stranger online.

It may seem like obvious advice, but police have received a string of complaints from men who claim they were seduced into cybersex and then blackmailed.

The unsuspecting men described how they met women on online dating sites and were encouraged to strip down and get naughty over the course of a webcam date. Once deemed to have captured the man in a sexually compromising position, the woman threatens to unleash footage of the act online unless he pays up.

Sgt. Jean-Paul Lemay said the scam could be linked to a suspected ring of con artists being investigated by police in Singapore. It’s unclear whether the cases in Gatineau are all related to each other, Lemay added.

“This type of investigation presents many challenges — mainly that the blackmailers might not be Canadian and likely live on another continent,” Lemay said.

So far, nearly 10 men have come forward to expose the scam to Gatineau police but Lemay said there’s likely more who have kept quiet.